Bethesda has confirmed that a locked vault in Fallout 76 will eventually open, but the admission came only after a player was briefly trapped in the locked area due to an in-game glitch.
The saga started this weekend when Reddit user McStaken posted pictures from inside the mysterious vault, which appears on the Fallout 76 map but can't be entered through normal gameplay. McStaken said he “didn't intend to end up” in the vault and entered accidentally while participating in another event.
That makes their situation different from previous players who have been able to force their way into Vault 63 and other locked in-game locations using a Power Armor glitch. Once inside, these players found a spacious, partially furnished vault, complete with overseer's office, wrecked kitchen, and even a terminal reading “Nice Work Assholes” (a possible hidden message for potential hackers?).
While McStaken says they were eventually able to get out, they expressed worry about being banned for even unintentionally accessing the locked vault. That wasn't a completely unfounded fear, since Bethesda recently banned players who gained access to Fallout 76‘s hidden dev room and its unreleased items. In that case, though, the publisher was clear that banned players were “using 3rd party applications to get into these areas.”
In any case, Bethesda community manager Jessica Finster responded to McStaken's post to clarify that “these Vaults are still under construction, but we look forward to sharing more on how they will become part of the game. In the meantime, we also appreciate when players like yourself let us know about stuff like this. We have shared with the team and will let you know if we have any follow-up questions.”

A Bethesda representative also followed up with Polygon to confirm that McStaken “shouldn’t have to worry about a ban. Sounds like they weren’t abusing an exploit, and letting us know is a good thing we definitely appreciate.”

While we all wait for the vault to officially open, programming errors like these mean we can still enjoy videos and screenshots of the areas in their still-unfinished states. Who says video game glitches are never a good thing?